


Element of Corruption

by NanakiBH



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Guro, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-15
Updated: 2008-11-15
Packaged: 2017-11-19 19:21:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Others shied away at the sight of blood. To Stein, blood was an aphrodisiac.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Element of Corruption

He'd been filled in on all the details before he rushed him into the operating room. With him bleeding all over, barely breathing, Stein found it hard to pay attention to a word he was told, though. All he knew was that the kid was in seriously bad condition and he had to do something. _Fast_. He practically waved off anyone who tried to assist him, knowing they would only get in his way. There were no spare seconds.

Wasting no time, he got him on the operating table, stripping him to get a better idea of how bad this was. It was monstrous, whatever did this to him. Whoever, perhaps. (Although he had to question the humanity of anyone that could slice someone up quite so badly.) Thick gashes were dug into his chest and torso, deep enough to be fatal. Assuming he would live, he knew these were the things the young ones would laugh about and call their “battle scars”, but right now, these were wounds from which his life bled. He really had to wonder what Kid's weapons were doing when this happened. Weren't they protecting him like they should? Something this bad...

Perhaps he shouldn't blame them, though. He knew the lengths Spirit would go to for him...

Pushing up his glasses, he rolled his chair over to the operating table and turned on the light. It flickered to life with a dry crackle and buzz, shining down on Kid to make his porcelain skin even whiter. His blood looked brighter, glistened. There were places already drying but a nearly steady flow of blood pulsed from his wounds with every ragged breath he took.

That's right. How could he forget? It wasn't very kind of him to leave the boy in such pain. In a matter of seconds, he procured some morphine and prepped a needle, injecting it into a delicate, bruised arm. Under any normal circumstances, Kid might have winced or even flinched, but in the face of much greater pain, he didn't even respond.

It was hard to tell whether he was unconscious or not with the way he writhed on the table and jerked his legs. Either way, he was definitely in some other place right now, fighting to live with his strength of will. Almost tenderly, Stein ran a hand over his hair, watching as Kid unconsciously sought out his touch, nudging his head closer. His hand trailed from his hair to his neck where he felt Kid's pulse jumping wildly against his throat, like the mad beat of a drum.

Would it be wrong to think that was beautiful? Pale skin, ruby red blood, and the life beating just beneath his flesh, animating every limb into motion...

Stein swallowed hard, his hand hesitating above Kid's tender throat. He didn't like what he was thinking. The strong scent of blood might have nauseated any normal person, but Stein wasn't about to kid himself. It was attracting him.

He tore himself away, fumbling fingers searching through his tray of different scalpels and other tools. By the time he turned his attention back to Kid, he'd nearly chewed a hole through his bottom lip, gripping the suture thread and needle so hard it might've snapped. Snakes of dark desire were wrapping themselves around his heart again. He could feel it, knew he wouldn't be able to resist with _this much blood_ in front of him.

The needle sank beneath his skin and rose out the other side, drawing out the first stitch. Kid bucked in pain when he tied the end, pulling the skin a little too tightly. Kid's hands scrabbled blindly, trying to force Stein away from his wounds, doing very little to do more than just annoy the professor. Dropping the needle, he forced Kid's hands to his naked sides, gripping his wrists tightly to make sure he knew he'd better keep still.

He hardly realized what he was even doing as the needle rose and fell beneath bloodstained skin, the scent of blood heady to his senses, enveloping his thoughts.

The only thing that held him back might have been the fact that Death the Kid was Shinigami's son. Without that thought at the back of his mind, he knew he would have lost it already.

With the worst of the wounds expertly stitched, he reached for a towel. A large part of him told him not to remove the blood, to just... He wasn't sure what, but if he followed the thought, he knew he'd be the one in trouble. Subconsciously, he knew what he wanted to do, why he had been so eager to charge himself with the task of fixing the boy up. He was the only one for the job, he made sure he would be alone without distraction, he knew just the sort of things he could do with no one around.

No one knew what he was capable of more than Spirit, but he hadn't willingly let him near him with a sharp edge in ages. This was far from _willing_ , of course, though.

Normal people would be undressing somebody with their eyes. In Stein's mind, he was tearing their skin off.

Hands shaky, he reached for the towel nearby, but was halted by Kid's hand on his wrist. His palm was clammy and cold, feeling half-dead. With great effort, Kid raised himself up onto his elbows, gritting his bloody teeth and wincing when the wounds on his middle complained. His eyelids fluttered, shoulders wobbling. Stein suspected that even the slightest of effort to sit up had made him nauseous, but Kid was seeming to suppress it well enough somehow.

Blinking through red-tipped bangs, he look a bleary look over his own body, assessing the damage. After a couple slow blinks, he collapsed back onto the table, head hitting the cold metal. He didn't seem to care much that he was naked. Didn't necessarily even look concerned about his wounds either, though.

“They're...” He coughed, a trickle of blood slipping from the corner of his mouth. “They aren't... symmetrical.”

Stein allowed a silence. Then, “Is that really all you're concerned about?”

Kid whimpered, biting down on the back of his hand to keep from crying out. “I-It's the most important thing! If it's... not, then...”

He was clearly fading again.

“They could leave some very deep scars.” Hell, this was his only chance to make this 'willing', right? “Would you like me to make them symmetrical for you?”

Kid cracked open an eye, seemed to consider the pain, then grimaced when he probably thought of the alternative; a life with scars that didn't match each other. He must've known how questionable that was for him even to ask. If Shinigami ever found out... He wouldn't think about that. This was his son's decision.

Sighing loudly through his nose, Kid relaxed his hands at his sides again.

“Make sure I get lots of painkillers.”

That was “yes” enough for Stein. Heart practically thumping in his ears, his fingers curled around the familiar shape of a scalpel on the tray beside him. He held it up to the light, inspecting its edge. Clean, sharp, _perfect_. Without any further hesitation, he pressed the razor edge against Kid's skin, eyeing up the distance between the place where he held the scalpel and where the adjacent scar was. If he got it even a millimeter wrong, he knew the fit Kid would have with him.

The knife slid easily into his flesh, velvety red rising to meet it, making the most satisfying sound of metal against skin. It wasn't nearly as deep as the ones inflicted in his fight, nor were they as jagged, but Kid would probably appreciate the cleanness of his marks in comparison. They weren't deep, but he knew how to tilt the edge just enough to make it a cut that would scar.

He found the next spot to cut into, just above his ribs, and pressed the scalpel down. This time Kid gasped, a strangled sound, fists clenching at his sides, elbows tensing. Before Stein even realized what he was doing, he was caressing the fresh injury with his tongue, cleaning the blood away. The gasp that escaped Kid this time was neither in pain nor surprise, something more like a breathless moan. He let the coppery taste roll on his tongue, let it slide smoothly down his throat.

He'd nearly forgotten what it tasted like. Like a recovering addict, it was delicious and bitter at the same time, making him want more, yet disgusted him with his own lack of control.

His hand hesitated over where he had to place the next mark. If he cut more...

Kid's hand flopped weakly on top of his hand, surprising him out of his hazy thoughts. With concern, he glanced at him but aside from the obvious pain still on his face, Kid seemed to be neither surprised nor sickened. Instead, he ran his hand over his, closed his eyes and said, “Go on,” as if that was the last thing Stein wanted to hear. “It feels better when you do that.”

He didn't need to be told twice.

His skin was unbelievably warm beneath his tongue, his blood like liquid fire in his mouth. The next incision was made and more pooled into the dip of his stomach. The gasp and shudder of the boy beneath him jarred his thoughts rudely back into reality, and this time he was sure he couldn't give in. He was evoking a much different reaction now, and if he kept going...

_Definitely_ wouldn't let himself consider that one.

Before he could get any farther, confident that Kid would be alright on his own for a while, he removed himself from his chair and wiped off his hands on his lap coat.

“Where are you going?” Kid asked, glossy eyes looking in his general direction.

He didn't bother to answer. The blood on his face was swiped away with his sleeve.

He had to go find Spirit for now.


End file.
